A lot happened over the last few months – I’ve been busy dealing with all of that in my personal life while balancing things with work. I’ll try to talk a bit about it all in this post, and share pictures where apt!
In June, I visited Langkawi, Malaysia, with my previous team in WordPress.com. Even though I had technically moved to VIP by the time of this meetup, I was allowed to attend as an exception, which was pretty awesome. I spent a week with my team, and we did so much together, including stuff like Jetskiing, go-karting, hopping on an island tour, and more! Langkawi is an excellent budget travel destination, and the views are truly beautiful. Some pictures from the trip:
After coming back from Langkawi, things took a bit of a turn. Tl;dr – my dog, Mione, suddenly had an inflamed third eyelid, which looks scary:
Mione’s condition
This was fairly challenging to diagnose, and it seemed to come and go. We spent multiple months monitoring and running various tests as prescribed by her veterinarian but couldn’t get any clarity. After exhausting all the other diagnostic measures, the vet recommended us to get Mione a full body CT scan to rule out any malignancies.
Turns out, the condition was completely idiopathic and is referred to as Horner’s Syndrome. It typically goes away on it’s own, seemingly rapidly, and that is also how she developed it – rapidly, and overnight. If you’re curious about Horner’s Syndrome, you can read more about it here. By now, her condition has already resolved, and she’s back to her normal self, which is such a relief.
After Mione got better, things were calm for a few weeks, and I was able to fully focus on work, but life still had one little curveball to throw! My maternal grandmother suddenly got sick critically and was diagnosed with a myriad of issues. She spent months in hospital, which was stressful for everyone in the family. Unfortunately, her condition didn’t improve, and she passed after suffering for months, which was very hard to see. Fortunately, I made time to meet her and be there with her in her last few weeks. I hope she’s in peace, wherever she is now.
Next, in October, VIP hosted a company-wide Division Meetup in Tulum, Mexico. We stayed at Hilton Conrad, which was a huge, beautiful property. Getting to know folks in VIP over a week and hanging out with them really helped me bond in this still somewhat new part of the company. I can’t wait for the next one already – in the mean-time, here are some pics from Tulum & elsewhere:
That’s a wrap for now! I don’t know when I’ll post next, but this post proves that I’m still not giving up on this blogging thing 😉